We returned to Bali after a 10 year break for a short trip: planned for four days of diving, staying with Utama resort. The resort is around half KM away from the waterfront. It really is nice, and it is designed perfectly for divers. The rooms are spacious, with a semi-open sky bathroom - which has access directly from outside, as well as from inside. This is great when you walk in with wetsuit and camera gear etc. Also, the room has probably four locations with multi-socket electrical outlets -- and a couple more power adaptors with USB-A ports. One can simultaneously charge perhaps 8 items, regardless of what input power source you bring. The rooms are all stand-alone, high-ceiling chalets. Mount Agung is in the background, making for wonderful views, at least every morning - it was covered in clouds every evening.
The Food
For all the great things going for the resort, the kitchen is still a work-in-progress. While the resort has a 7-8 page menu, I would say that
most of it is just not up to the stnadards of other resorts (in contrast, Scuba Seraya, where we used to stay in earlier trips, used to have a 1-page menu,
but every dish was just wonderful, so one would look forward to every meal). There is a large selection of local, Asian/Chinese, and Westerns dishes. I suppose
the pizza is passable, and perhaps a couple of dishes, e.g. Beef rendang. Otherwise, even the local dishes, like Nasi Goreng, could be improved.
The best part for me was that I could get a plate of wonderful fresh papaya after every meal.
Diving:
In recent years, I think Bali has completely converted (well, Tulamben area, at elast) into a macro/muck center. The dive arrangement for Utama is superb:
they assigned us a private guide, Jaya, who was phenomenal. Each morning we would leave in the open van for a site (anything between 5 and 15 min drive from the resort,
ranging from Sidem to the south, and Gerombong (which also has a nice little temple) to the north. All sites needed shore entry, which meant walking on
some rocky shallow water with some waves in and out. We'd do a surface interval, and then dive the same site again. After dive 2, we return to Utama for lunch, and go out
for a third dive either in mid-afternoon or at night. The water was a balmy 28-29C, visibility was moderate, but that didn't matter much, since we were
doing macro. Despite having been to Anilao, Lambeh multiple times, we still ended up seeing quite a few new species - mostly nudibranchs (Doto, Phyllodesmium, Banana costasiella).
I got sick by the end of the third day, and had to miss the last day of diving - which kitty ended up going solo with Jaya to the Liberty wreck area.
So I ended up doing 9 dives, while Kitty did 11.
On the 2nd dive of day 2, my Sea-and-Sea strobe flooded the battery chamber. At the resort, Jaya used a can of Coke to clear it out, and then dried it up..
and it miraculously worked fine on the next day. This is the only coke I have bought in the last couple of years, and what a value for money!
About the photos
Gear: Sony A7 IV with the Sony 28-60 lens; I used Subsea +10 wet macro stacked with an Inon 165. I also switched to a 2-strobe mode for the first time, using a Sea & Sea YS-01 and an Inon Z220. Kitty used a GoPro Hero black 12, with a backscatter macro.
